Penny's Depression
by SundayDreams
Summary: Penny hasn't been happy for a while. She hasn't had a boyfriend in over 4 months, she hasn't got an acting job since she moved to Pasadena, she is sick of her minimum-wage paying job and she is starting to depend on alcohol. Will she be able to get out of her rut and back into her normal, perky self? Rated T for lots of angst and mature themes. Shenny.
1. Penny's Depression

**Hi all, my first fic here, please enjoy. **_**All reviews and criticisms highly appreciated. **_**Thanks!**

It had been a horrible day at the Cheesecake Factory for Penny. Sure, she hardly ever has_ good_ days, but this one in particular was _worse_ than bad. In fact, most of her days were becoming monotonous and depressing. She was missing something. So she was happy to finally come home and flop down on her sofa and watch TV. Sadly this couldn't last long, as five minutes after she sat down she heard the dreaded knock of Dr Sheldon Cooper on her painted metal door.

_Knock, knock, knock, _**Penny!**

_Knock, knock, knock, _**Penny!**

_Knock, knock, knock, _**Penny!**

Penny got up and opened the door to see Sheldons sharp face.

"Penny, I seem to have a problem".

"What is it, Sheldon?" Penny asked in a mildy sarcastic and annoyed tone.

"You see, I may have a, I believe the colloquial term is _date_, and I.."

Penny cut him off. "Wait, you, the unbelievably nerdy Sheldon Cooper, have a _date? _No, this can't be happening. I haven't gotten laid in _4 months___and Sheldon Cooper has a _date?_ UNbelievable!"

"So, can I come in?" Sheldon queried, plainly ignoring her previous remarks.

"Yeah, why not." Penny replied blatantly nonchalantly.

Sheldon sat down in the green and white spinning chair, and Penny continued. "So, you have a date. What's the problem?"

"Well, I've never been on a date before, and, quite frankly I don't want to." Sheldon answered.

"Then why do you have a date?" Penny asked, sitting back down on the blue sofa.

"Well, I don't know." Sheldon said, gaining a blank stare from Penny. "You see _she_ initiated it, and due to my lack of experience on the subject, I accidentally led her to believe I was interested."

"And you're not." Penny stated.

"Not at all!"

"Well, you do have a problem, sweetie. But you have to go out with her otherwise you'll hurt her feelings."

"But I don't want to!" Sheldon whined in a rather childish manner.

"Then _don't_ go on the date." Penny said. "Look, Sheldon, it's getting late and I'm tired. Can you just come back tomorrow?

"Fine, but just so you know, if she gets upset I'm blaming you. Goodnight Penny."

"Goodnight Sheldon."

With that, Sheldon went through the door and closed it behind him, leaving Penny to sigh and walk to her fridge, grabbing out a half-empty bottle of shardonnay from the other night. "Well, at least I've still got alchohol."

**Thanks for reading! By the way, this is set in season 2, so Amy isn't around yet. Most of the fic has already been written, so expect more updates soon!**


	2. Too Much Going On

**Hi again! So this is the second chapter to **_**Penny's Depression.**_** Starts to get more into the story this chapter... Enjoy!**

Penny woke up to the sound of an alarm clock at 11am on a Friday morning. She had little recollection of what happened the night before but she remembers Sheldon coming over, his usual annoying, genius self had come over with details on what happened after cancelling his "date" with some girl. The girl _did_ get upset, but Sheldon apparently made things worse by saying "There, there" and consequently getting kicked out of her apartment. Classic Sheldon, she thought. He really was clueless sometimes. That's what Penny found endearing and adorable about Sheldon, even though it could get on her nerves sometimes. That's one thing Penny had been noticing lately, her changing feelings toward the young physicist.

She quickly shook that thought out of her mind and dragged herself out of bed into her small kitchen. Grabbing a box of Frosted Flakes she picked up her universal remote and turned on the TV. She filled her bowl with cereal and sat down in front of the television, flicking through different stations. She finished her cereal, went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, looking at her hung-over reflection. "What are you looking at?" She said to the mirror, and peeled off her pyjamas and turned on her shower. When she was done showering, she threw on her Cheesecake Factory uniform.

Walking out her door, she was surprised to see Sheldon. She put on her happiest, perkiest face and began speaking to him.

"Hey Shelly."

"Hello Penny." Sheldon replied.

"Why aren't you at work?" Penny asked, with not much sincerity.

"It's my day off. I'm going to the comic book store. There's a new expansion for Age of Conan and I am eager to get my hands on it."

"Right. So has that date girl gotten back to you?"

"Penny," Sheldon said, descending down the stairs."Do you really think, after last night's events, that she would be _eager _to see me again, let alone even talk to me?"

"Yeah, I guess not. Well, I gotta go, seeya!"

...

After another long, laborious day at the Cheesecake Factory, Penny was glad it was finally Halo night. She changed out of her work clothes and into her favourite yoga pants and a pink tank top. She opened Sheldon and Leonard's apartment with her emergency key and walked in, greeting the guys and sitting down next to Sheldon's spot.

"Dibs on Penny!" Leonard yelled out and the other guys seemed disappointed. Penny just laughed and grabbed a controller.

After playing for a good three hours or so, Penny decided to call it a night and go back home. "Well it's been fun but I have to get some sleep. Bye guys!"

"Wait, Penny, we haven't played free-for-all yet!" Sheldon called out.

"Fine, but only one game, OK?"

Penny, despite what she said, ended up playing another four rounds. Nearing the end of this, her and Sheldon got into a rather heated fight about who is better at Halo.

"Come on, Penny! You can't seriously believe that you, who only found out about the game a year ago, are better than me, a veteran player having played since the series began!"

"Whatever. I gotta go. Bye guys, have fun!" Penny couldn't deal with this. Not right now, anyway. So many things had been going on lately, between her boring days at work and her lacking love life. She went back across the hall to her apartment, where she sat down on her couch and started sobbing. She then heard her door.

_Knock, knock, knock, _**Penny!**

_Knock, knock, knock, _**Penny!**

_Knock, knock, knock, _**Penny!**

"What do you want?" Penny cried, in between sobs.

"Leonard said I have to apologise." Sheldon replied through the door that was gingerly opened by Penny.

"Go ahead. I know it won't mean anything. It never does with you." She said.

"There there. Don't cry. I didn't _mean_ to hurt your feelings. I really _am_ sorry."

"It's OK. There's just so much going on, you know..."

**So there you go! Hope this leaves you hanging, the next chapter will be up soon! Bye**


	3. Could It Be Love?

Hi! So, I come bearing gifts! Gifts of chaptery goodness! Read on. My friends! Oh, and I don't own TBBT or any of its affiliates. If I did, Shenny would be the main attraction, y'all!

Leonard was shell-shocked. He knew what was just said he was not supposed to hear, but he had decided to walk over to Penny's apartment to see what was taking so long with the two of them. Leonard heard Sheldon and Penny's tense voices through her door. What were they talking about? They sounded tense. He didn't want to disturb them so he listened in through the other side. Then he heard. No, it couldn't be right. _Sheldon and Penny?_No. He must have heard it wrong. I dove you? I glove you? No, those don't even make sense. He was so surprised and angry, furious, even. How could Sheldon do something like this? He had called dibs when he first saw Penny, and they had even tried going out. And Sheldon was supposed to be asexual. He wasn't supposed to feel anything more than the love for his family and friends. Even his friends, _that_ was a stretch. Leonard stumbled over to his apartment and into his room, shoving his head down on to his pillow.

...

_2 Days Later_

Few words had been said between Sheldon and Leonard for the past couple of days. Sheldon didn't know why, he had no clue that Leonard overheard his conversation with Penny. Tensions had been high ever since that conversation. Not only between Leonard and Sheldon, but between Sheldon and Penny, too. They were having trouble coming to terms with what had happened. They were contemplating between how to tell their friends about what had happened, or even telling them at all. Penny was still getting over the fact that Sheldon let his feelings out like that. He was always so stone cold. Just a shell of a human being. It made her think. Has he been hiding a different Sheldon inside of his Whack-A-Doodle exterior? It made her head spin. What was the next step? She needed to talk to Leonard, and she knew he would be upset. How could she do something like this to him? She knew he was still crazy about him and a little part of her still was crazy about him as well. Then there was the alcohol, which didn't help the situation at all. She had become dependent on it, and the stresses of the whole deal over the past 2 days were only fuelling her dependency.

Leonard was still brooding in his bedroom, only getting up to go to work, go to the bathroom and eat. And even those situations he had dreaded. He knew there was a chance of him seeing Penny in the hall, or in the laundry room or lobby. He was figuring out a way to confront Penny or Sheldon on the situation. He knew that they were getting on to him knowing, and they would have to confront _him_ about it at some point, but the biggest part of him wanted to run away and never come back. This was seeming more and more appealing as the hours went by...

_To Be Continued!..._

So, there it is! Wow, I've been so busy lately I haven't been able to write. School's back and I have tons of homework so yeah! I hope you enjoyed and I will try to write as soon as possible. I have some ideas for the next couple of chapters in my head already...


	4. Shocked and Confused

**Hi! So, I come bearing gifts! Gifts of chaptery goodness! Read on. My friends! Oh, and I don't own TBBT or any of its affiliates. If I did, Shenny would be the main attraction, y'all!**

Leonard was shell-shocked. He knew what was just said he was not supposed to hear, but he had come home early from a date with some girl he met online. He was about to open the door to his apartment but instead, he heard Sheldon and Penny's voices through her door. What were they talking about? They sounded tense. He didn't want to disturb them so he listened in through the other side. Then he heard. No, it couldn't be right. _Sheldon and Penny? _No. He must have heard it wrong. I dove you? I glove you? No, those don't even make sense. He was so surprised and angry, furious, even. How could Sheldon do something like this? He had called dibs when he first saw Penny, and they had even tried going out. And Sheldon was supposed to be asexual. He wasn't supposed to feel anything more than the love for his family and friends. Even his friends, _that_ was a stretch. Leonard stumbled over to his apartment and into his room, shoving his head down on to his pillow.

...

_**2 Days Later**_

Few words had been said between Sheldon and Leonard for the past couple of days. Sheldon didn't know why, he had no clue that Leonard overheard his conversation with Penny. Tensions had been high ever since that conversation. Not only between Leonard and Sheldon, but between Sheldon and Penny, too. They were having trouble coming to terms with what had happened. They were contemplating between how to tell their friends about what had happened, or even telling them at all. Penny was still getting over the fact that Sheldon let his feelings out like that. He was always so stone cold. Just a shell of a human being. It made her think. Has he been hiding a different Sheldon inside of his Whack-A-Doodle exterior? It made her head spin. What was the next step? She needed to talk to Leonard, and she knew he would be upset. How could she do something like this to him? She knew he was still crazy about him and a little part of her still was crazy about him as well. Then there was the alcohol, which didn't help the situation at all. She had become dependent on it, and the stresses of the whole deal over the past 2 days were only fuelling her dependency.

Leonard was still brooding in his bedroom, only getting up to go to work, go to the bathroom and eat. And even those situations he had dreaded. He knew there was a chance of him seeing Penny in the hall, or in the laundry room or lobby. He was figuring out a way to confront Penny or Sheldon on the situation. He knew that they were getting on to him knowing, and they would have to confront _him_ about it at some point, but the biggest part of him wanted to run away and never come back. This was seeming more and more appealing as the hours went by...

_**To Be Continued!...**_

**So, there it is! Wow, I've been so busy lately I haven't been able to write. School's back and I have tons of homework so yeah! I hope you enjoyed and I will try to write as soon as possible. I have some ideas for the next couple of chapters in my head already...**


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